Calls Bring Sheriff Some Bitter With Sweet

August 25, 1988|By Bill Bond of The Sentinel Staff

If the number of telephone calls Sheriff Noel E. Griffin Jr. received from supporters in a radio debate is any indication, he will easily defeat challenger George Knupp Jr. in the Sept. 6 Republican primary.

About 12 to 15 listeners called during the 60-minute program Tuesday night on WQBQ AM (1410) Leesburg Tonight. Most of them supported Griffin.

Calls from area law enforcement officers accounted for most of the pro- Griffin calls. They praised the sheriff's office's cooperation with local police agencies, especially in combating drugs.

Some callers, who gave only their first names, questioned Knupp's administrative experience.

But frankly, the total number of sheriff's supporters was a tad skewed, especially when you consider that Leesburg Police Chief Jim Brown used the telephone five times to genuflect over his former boss, the sheriff.

Other Griffin supporters included two calls from Al Foster, a patrolman with the Umatilla Police Department; one from Foster's son, Steve, Umatilla police chief; and one from Mount Dora Police Chief Bob Roberts.

A woman called to say Brown's speech was slurred, and asked if the chief was drunk. Brown called back to say he had had some peridontal work performed recently, and no, he was not tipsy.

Many callers who questioned Griffin's and Knupp's qualifications and law enforcement backgrounds either identified themselves by giving only a first name or no name at all.

One call that came from a man who refused to identify himself had to be unsettling for the sheriff. The caller asked if Griffin lied under oath during a court hearing in a 1981 murder case, and was he ever a member of the Ku Klux Klan?

The sheriff denied both accusations.

Here's how that exchange went:

Anonymous caller: Were you cited by a circuit judge for lying under oath in the Wall Sink murder case?

Griffin: I was not cited for lying under oath in the Wall Sink murder case. Caller: Well, according to the paper back then, that's what it said. I was just curious on that point.

The caller was referring to a story that appeared in the Sentinel Nov. 10, 1981, that quoted then-Circuit Judge Welborn Daniel saying he didn't believe Griffin's version of how a confession was obtained from the defendant.

Griffin: If you believe everything you read in the newspaper, sport, you're hurting.

Caller: Was the Ku Klux Klan leader Tony Bastanzio's pretense to run for sheriff of Lake County just an effort to hide your own prior association with the Klan?

Griffin: I don't believe you know what you're talking about, man. And if you have to hide behind an anonymous name, then you're not much of a man.